On Wednesday, February 21, 2024, Dr. Rita Banerjee will be a Visiting Lecturer in Adam Sexton’s Class “The Craft of Fiction” at Yale University. She will present on “Narrative Forms from World Literature: Rasa Theory & Kishōtenketsu” and the lecture details follow below:
“Narrative Forms from World Literature: Rasa Theory & Kishōtenketsu”
A Guest Lecture by Dr. Rita Banerjee
February 21, 2024 | 2:30-3:30 pm EST
Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520
In contemporary American creative writing, theatre, and screenwriting classes, the narrative structures and forms most centered are derived from the Western literary canon. Aristotle’s definition of comedy, tragedy, and catharsis from the Poetics and Gustav Freytag’s “plot triangle” from Die Technik des Dramas are seen as the conventional and standard way by which we analyze and structure storytelling. However, in our class on Narrative Forms from World Literature, we will study and learn from narrative structures, forms, aesthetic theories, and storytelling techniques from a variety of world literatures. We will delve into storytelling forms beyond the plot triangle and will highlight Nonwestern narrative techniques like rasa theory, which centers nine major emotional states to make the connection between viewer and character stronger. Rasa theory derives from Bharata’s Nāṭyaśāstra, which acts as a counterpoint to Aristotle’s demarcation of tragedy and comedy from the Poetics. This class will also explore the kishōtenketsu narrative form from Japanese. By studying Narrative Forms from World Literature, students will diversify and strengthen their craft knowledge and technique, and will gain access to storytelling structures, forms, and aesthetic traditions beyond the Anglo-American canon.
Rita Banerjee 